Uncertainty Reduction Theory

Continuing with my roommate example from my last post, I used all the strategies in this chapter to reduce uncertainty between Jamie and myself when we first met.  To explain them, I will talk about the day she moved in to our dorm.  The day she moved in, her parents were there and as well as her sister.  I was more passive in this situation, because they were busy getting all of her things into our second floor dorm room.  I observed mostly how she interacted with her family and her sister.  Later that day, we had a swim team event where we met our fellow teammates for the first time.  I observed how she interacted with our new teammates that we didn’t know very well, and I could tell from my passive observation that she was very friendly and outgoing.  Later that day when we got back to our dorm room, we began interacting with each other, asking what classes the other was taking and things about home and what towns we were from. 

Before I actually met Jamie, I had asked about her at the recruit weekend that I had attended the previous spring with the swim team.  I had not had a roommate at that point and the upperclassmen were making suggestions about who I should room with who was also going to be a swimmer.  Jamie was suggested, so therefore I was also using the active strategy to reduce uncertainty by asking the upperclassmen's opinion of who would be best to room with.  Once I contacted Jamie about rooming together through email, we became Facebook friends and I looked into her profile and through her pictures to see what kind of person she was (extractive strategy).

To reduce uncertainty when I met Jamie for the first time and rooming with her, I used all of the strategies talked about in the textbook.  Because we were going to be rooming together, I think there was more motivation to get to know each other quickly, so that it wasn’t awkward.  We were also on the swim team together, so we would be spending a lot of time together at practices as well as living together.  Reducing uncertainty about the other person was definitely important in getting to know Jamie quickly to be comfortable with her.

References

Griffin, E. A., Ledbetter, A., & Sparks, G. (2015). A first look at communication theory (9th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.